A severe gas crisis, coupled with low pressure, has seriously affected cooking in houses, disrupted operations of CNG (compressed natural gas) filling stations and hampered industrial output over the past several days, industry insiders said.
The crisis in many parts of the capital and its surrounding areas has become so acute that many people are being forced to buy breakfast and lunch as they fail to cook in gas stoves.
Long queues of vehicles in front of CNG filling stations have been a regular phenomenon as a result.
Crisis begins with the start of a day from very early in the morning, said a resident of Mirpur area.
Residents of different areas in the capital, including Mirpur, Mohammadpur, Shewrapara, Kafrul, East Rajabazar, Pallabi, Kazipara, Taltola, Malibag, Shyamoli, Khilgaon, Kalyanpur, Tejgaon, and Jatrabari have been suffering the worst.
Low gas pressure is taking its heavy toll on the businesses of CNG-filling stations as they have to provide less quantity of CNG into cylinders of motor vehicles.
"We can provide one-third of the quantity of CNG into vehicles now-a-days due to low gas pressure compared to what it was a week back," said Engineer of Energy Plus CNG Filling Station Imdadul Haq.
The motor vehicle owners are also irked at low pressure as they cannot re-fill expected quantity of CNG in their cylinders meaning that they have to go for refueling again within a short span of time, he said.
According to Petrobangla statistics, the current demand of gas across the country is 3,300 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) while the production stands at around 2,700 mmcfd.
A senior official of Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Ltd (TGTDCL) said they are getting less-than-expected gas due to less production.
He, however, said, to avert the acute gas shortage, the TGTDCL has asked shutting down all gas-run geysers and brick kilns by this year.
     It served notices in January on domestic consumers asking them to snap gas connections from geysers within three months.
 It also asked the owners of brick kilns to snap gas connections used in manufacturing bricks and to develop facilities for use of alternative primary fuels by October 31, 2016.
It warned of penalising consumers under the Bangladesh Gas Act- 2010 and the Gas Distribution Rules-2014 if they do not snap gas connections to geysers and brick kilns.
But efforts of the TGTDCL did not click accordingly resulting in deepening of the crisis, said sources.
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Source: The Financial Express